A Spam Botnet Is Being Used To Promote Adult Dating Sites

A spam botnet that has been used for promoting adult dating sites is being researched by cybersecurity website KrebsOnSecurity.com but has hit a firewall and published its research to find out if other researchers are studying it.

In a report, KrebsOnSecurity said in late October 2016 that an unnamed source shared a list of close to 100 URLS that when loaded into Firefox displayed what looks like a panel aimed at reporting how many bots were reporting to work. The report was in real time, noted KrebsOnSecurity.

Back in October, it wasn’t clear how many botnets were being used, but the number of bots have appeared to dwindle by a lot since then. The report said that last year that botnet had more than 1.2 million zombie servers or computers reporting each day, but these days it’s declined to between 50,000 and 100,000. The botnet, noted KrebsOnSecurity, apparently is prompting an endless network of adult data sites that are connected to only two companies: CyberErotica and Deniro Marketing, LLC (a.k.a. AmateurMatch).

The report noted that what isn’t typical about the botnet is that the reporting panels are still showing data via real-time updates about the size and status of the machine. There is no requirement for authentications or credentials to access it. KrebsOnSecurity warned anyone looking to do spyware research to use a virtual machine that doesn’t run Microsoft Windows because spammers are typically involved in distributing malicious software and those that have a vast network of botnets are usually involved in creating or commissioning malware and cyberattacks. Porn spammers, noted the report, are among the worse when it comes to DDoS viruses.